A jolt of alarm made Caitlin sit upright. “He can’t do that! That’s crazy.”

“John wouldn’t do it if he didn’t think he’d get the files.”

“But Henry gave me those files. Those are a journalist’s records. He was my employee at the time! I can prove that. He still is. His publisher will swear to that.”

Jordan held up her hands to stop Caitlin. “Remember what I told you at the Jericho Hole? How John got things moving so quickly on this case? He’s operating under provisions of the Patriot Act.”

Caitlin felt a cold sweat inside her shirt.

“When a federal judge considers Henry’s files in that light—and his attempted assassination—he’ll probably decide they’re critical evidence in the hunt for an out-of-control domestic terror cell. So—here’s my free advice. Go back to your office and make copies of everything Henry gave you, if you haven’t already. Then give John either the copies or the originals. Because he’s going to get them anyway. Things will go a lot smoother if you do it voluntarily, and I think after you get a little sleep, you’re going to realize what it will mean to have John giving you exclusive information.”

A dozen different emotions swirled through Caitlin’s exhausted brain. “Did your husband tell you to talk me out of those files?”

Jordan smiled sadly, then shook her head. “I’m on your side. I loved it when you got in that trooper’s face out there. I look at you and see my younger self. I want you to own this story. But John’s right: tomorrow an army of print and TV journalists is going to descend on this area. Your window of exclusivity is going to slam shut fast. Hiding those files may feel instinctively right, but it’s not. People are dying. John and his team are the best hope of stopping this violence. He won’t let any other journalist see those files. And if you give him access, he’ll pay you back ten times over. I know him.”

Caitlin’s heart told her to believe Glass, but skepticism had been drilled into her from infancy.

“If you need to hold something back,” Jordan said, “then do it. Something special that Henry gave you, maybe. But the rest of it … let it go. That’s the safest thing for your family, too.”

Caitlin thought about the Moleskine notebook she’d discovered outside the burned Beacon building, the Toby Rambin lead, the recording of Katy Royal. “Are you going to tell John you told me that?”

Jordan laughed without humor. “If I ever do manage to get pregnant, I’d prefer to be married, not divorced. So, no, I’m not going to tell him.”